- Messages
- 19,412
- Location
- Funkytown, USA
Why?
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Ebay Hats: Victories, Defeats, Gripes & Items of Interest
Why?
- Messages
- 19,001
- Location
- Central California
Didn’t you have the photo with all sorts of hats all labeled Whippet? Did I mix you up with someone else?
- Messages
- 19,412
- Location
- Funkytown, USA
Oh, yeah. My head didn't go there.
Too easy.
drmaxtejeda
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 8,354
- Location
- Mexico City
Nick Fouquet The Raylan. Not Nick's fan, but for 300 plus cheap shipping...
Too cheap, but took a chance
Too cheap, but took a chance
drmaxtejeda
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 8,354
- Location
- Mexico City
That was a great collage. I send it to sellers who list any old hat as a Whippet.
- Messages
- 11,671
Arriving this week.. :nod Randall
Rmccamey
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,841
- Location
- Central Texas
- Messages
- 11,671
Thanks Randy. Looking forward to checking it out.
Randall Renshaw
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,087
- Location
- Nahunta, Ga.
Shipped $135. Not a bad price for my eighth 7XCB OR late 50s model in size 7 1/4
I’ll have to do a clean/reblock/reflange, but otherwise looks to be in great condition.
I’ll have to do a clean/reblock/reflange, but otherwise looks to be in great condition.
Stetson Hat, Fedora style, pre-owned, beige, size 7 1/4 | eBay
Hat is at least 40 years old. Feels like felt, might be wool. Visible signs of wear and age but overall in good condition. Size 7 1/4.
www.ebay.com
- Messages
- 11,671
Randall Renshaw
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,087
- Location
- Nahunta, Ga.
Thanks, Joe!
Rmccamey
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,841
- Location
- Central Texas
Not bad, indeed!
Shipped $135. Not a bad price for my eighth 7XCB OR late 50s model in size 7 1/4
I’ll have to do a clean/reblock/reflange, but otherwise looks to be in great condition.
Stetson Hat, Fedora style, pre-owned, beige, size 7 1/4 | eBay
Hat is at least 40 years old. Feels like felt, might be wool. Visible signs of wear and age but overall in good condition. Size 7 1/4.www.ebay.com
StoryPNW
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,136
- Location
- Pacific Northwest
Curiosity got the best of me, this BR Western Dalworth is headed my way.
I think you'll like it. It's one of Resistol's OR clones along with the San Antonio and Wide Country. They don't show up that often. There are a couple posted around the lounge. Looks to be in good shape.
Great hat! I have a Dalworth and it is one of my favorites to wear around town. Congrats on the find!
StoryPNW
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,136
- Location
- Pacific Northwest
Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to getting it. I am interested to see how it compares to my San Antonio.
Yamahana
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,045
- Location
- Buckeye, Arizona
I’ve got one and it’s one of my favorites.
drmaxtejeda
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 8,354
- Location
- Mexico City
I had never seen a crease like this before
drmaxtejeda
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 8,354
- Location
- Mexico City
It's on eBay. Another thing that caught my eye was a prerty good description of the "X conundrum":
Vintage (1970s) 5X Silverbelly Beaver Stetson Cowboy Hat In Excellent professionally restored condition
Size: 7 1/4, 55 cm, Brim: 3 1/2", Crown: 5" Fancy Gus Crease
Original box not included due to excessive shipping costs for large sized packages.
Lightweight and stiff with a fancy Gus crease 5" crown and half round curve 3 1/2" brim. Size is an accurate 7 1/4 measuring 58 cm. This professionally restored vintage 5X Stetson hat is from the 1970s.
My 3 step restoration process starts with a deep cleaning to remove any stains or odors. Then each hat is reblocked tight to return it to its original open crowned and flat brimmed form. If the leather sweatband is found to be brittle, cracked or damaged it’s reinforced with a backing strip. By preserving rather the original sweatband the important brand and quality information is retained. Then each hat is steam shaped and stiffened with a professional grade shellac solution. Finally a cleaned liner is installed and a hat band applied.
I’m frequently asked what the Xs mean. In short, the whole X thing is a can of worms. Xs are supposed to tell you how much beaver is in the hat, but it’s not that simple. The oldest hats, which are often the best, don’t have Xs because back in the day hat makers relied on price to communicate quality. When they did start using Xs the top end hats had far fewer Xs than the industry uses today, and the number of Xs has always varied by manufacturer. For example, when Stetson started using Xs their top end hat was 3X, and Resistol's best hat was marked X Double X. Unfortunately when some other manufactures jumped on the X bandwagon they went straight to putting 10Xs on their inferior hats, so Stetson and Resistol followed suit and the X race was on. Now Stetson is up to 1,000 Xs for their top tier hats, but a modern 1000X Stetson has more chemicals and less real beaver fur than their 3X hats made 80 or 100 years ago.
So when evaluating the quality of a vintage hat there's no sure-fire way of knowing what the Xs really mean. All we really know is that hats of the same brand made the same year will have more Xs as the quality goes up and when comparing two hats of the same brand the older hat may be better even if it has fewer Xs. Experienced collectors can tell by handling a hat if the beaver content is high and just ignore the Xs. As a fairly well experienced collector I do my best to describe the hats I sell as accurately as possible.
But why Beaver? Beaver produces a water tight, light weight and very resilient felt that holds its shape exceptionally well, but beaver fur is expensive so rabbit is actually the most commonly used fur. Rabbit felt is soft and strong but lacks the microscopic barbs that give beaver its superior qualities so rabbit felt needs to be thicker for the hat to hold its shape. The cheapest material is wool, which I'd describe as filler. So aside from a few exotics such as nutria, otter and sable, felt quality is determined by how much beaver, rabbit and wool goes into the hat, with the best hats using only beaver and rabbit fur because if you've ever been caught out in the rain wearing a wool hat you've learned the hard way how wool hats can melt on your face when they get wet enough.
Vintage (1970s) 5X Silverbelly Beaver Stetson Cowboy Hat In Excellent professionally restored condition
Size: 7 1/4, 55 cm, Brim: 3 1/2", Crown: 5" Fancy Gus Crease
Original box not included due to excessive shipping costs for large sized packages.
Lightweight and stiff with a fancy Gus crease 5" crown and half round curve 3 1/2" brim. Size is an accurate 7 1/4 measuring 58 cm. This professionally restored vintage 5X Stetson hat is from the 1970s.
My 3 step restoration process starts with a deep cleaning to remove any stains or odors. Then each hat is reblocked tight to return it to its original open crowned and flat brimmed form. If the leather sweatband is found to be brittle, cracked or damaged it’s reinforced with a backing strip. By preserving rather the original sweatband the important brand and quality information is retained. Then each hat is steam shaped and stiffened with a professional grade shellac solution. Finally a cleaned liner is installed and a hat band applied.
I’m frequently asked what the Xs mean. In short, the whole X thing is a can of worms. Xs are supposed to tell you how much beaver is in the hat, but it’s not that simple. The oldest hats, which are often the best, don’t have Xs because back in the day hat makers relied on price to communicate quality. When they did start using Xs the top end hats had far fewer Xs than the industry uses today, and the number of Xs has always varied by manufacturer. For example, when Stetson started using Xs their top end hat was 3X, and Resistol's best hat was marked X Double X. Unfortunately when some other manufactures jumped on the X bandwagon they went straight to putting 10Xs on their inferior hats, so Stetson and Resistol followed suit and the X race was on. Now Stetson is up to 1,000 Xs for their top tier hats, but a modern 1000X Stetson has more chemicals and less real beaver fur than their 3X hats made 80 or 100 years ago.
So when evaluating the quality of a vintage hat there's no sure-fire way of knowing what the Xs really mean. All we really know is that hats of the same brand made the same year will have more Xs as the quality goes up and when comparing two hats of the same brand the older hat may be better even if it has fewer Xs. Experienced collectors can tell by handling a hat if the beaver content is high and just ignore the Xs. As a fairly well experienced collector I do my best to describe the hats I sell as accurately as possible.
But why Beaver? Beaver produces a water tight, light weight and very resilient felt that holds its shape exceptionally well, but beaver fur is expensive so rabbit is actually the most commonly used fur. Rabbit felt is soft and strong but lacks the microscopic barbs that give beaver its superior qualities so rabbit felt needs to be thicker for the hat to hold its shape. The cheapest material is wool, which I'd describe as filler. So aside from a few exotics such as nutria, otter and sable, felt quality is determined by how much beaver, rabbit and wool goes into the hat, with the best hats using only beaver and rabbit fur because if you've ever been caught out in the rain wearing a wool hat you've learned the hard way how wool hats can melt on your face when they get wet enough.
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